if you remember that, you're about my age. i'm don lemon. have a great weekend. happy easter. see you back here next week. good night. fear in texas. a district attorney is gunned down just weeks after the murder of his deputy. the killer or killers still out there this morning. tough talk on the korean peninsula. but this time it's the south vowing to strike if the north crosses the line. on a new york city street witnesses say they saw an armed abduction in broad daylight. but was this all just an elaborate hoax? >> a gruesome injury then a rousing finish. the louisville cardinals landing a spot in the final four, minus a wallen warrior. i'm christine romans this monday

for you. >> i'm john berman. it is monday, april 1st. 5:00 a.m. in the east. we're going to start in texas where at this moment there is an intense manhunt under way. the search for some person or some people targeting public officials for assassination. the latest victim, kaufman county district attorney mike mclelland. he and his wife gunned down in their home southeast of dallas. this is the same county where less than two months ago, assistant district attorney was killed as he walked to work. officials have not yet publicly linked the two killings. but this morning there is tightened security at the courthouse and that community clearly on edge. our george howell is there live from kauffman, texas, with this developing story. what's the latest? >> john, good morning. no new leads in this mysterious murder case. investigators are not any closer to narrowing down a suspect in this case. but we are, john, hearing from several public officials here and they say this, they believe

that these two men worked very closely together on different cases and they believe this may have been a revenge hit. now at this point, please here are not officially linking these killings, but the unanswered questions have consumed this community with fear. >> we're going to find you. we're going to pull you out of whatever hole you're in, we're going to bring you back and let the people of kaufman county prosecute you to the fullest extent of the law. >> reporter: a promise from kaufman county, texas, district attorney mike mclelland two months ago to the unknown killer of an assistant d.a. in his office. a promise, though, he would never see fulfilled. saturday night police found the bodies of the d.a. and his wife cynthia at their home. >> they both had been shot and we are in the process of completing the crime scene workup right now. >> reporter: an investigator says police found several shell casings inside the home from a high-powered rifle.

>> it's pretty obvious it's unnerving, and it's unnerving to the law enforcement community, it's unnerving to the community at large. >> reporter: there are no suspects. and the sheriff's office has not officially said whether the mclellands' deaths are connected to the killing of kaufman county assistant d.a. who was shot outside the county courthouse in january. the sheriff says extra precautions are being taken to protect county elected officials, as well as the public. >> there will be complete security at the courthouse tomorrow. visible security. >> reporter: mclelland said his coworkers were like a family, but they all knew their job came with risks. >> when you deal with bad people on a regular basis, you know that there's always the potential for these bad people to do something bad to you, because they've already done something bad to somebody else. and so they could always concentrate and backlash on you. >> reporter: so this office

here, it was a very close-knit office, and haffey's death had a big impact on that office. mclelland was determined to find his killer and now we don't know who will take mclelland's position, who will replace the d.a. here. we know that mr. mclelland and his wife, they leave behind two daughters and three sons. one of those sons is a dallas police officer. john? >> george, it's so chilling to hear mclelland in his own words from two months ago. let's leave that aside for a moment. what are the plans in kaufman today? >> right. well we do know the courthouse will reopen, as you mentioned, with heightened security. very visible security here. the d.a.'s office, though, will remain closed as investigators try to get to the bottom of this case. >> all right, george howell in kaufman, texas. there are so many questions about this case, including the big one, obviously, which is there a serial assassin on the loose right now targeting public officials in texas. we're going to talk to former fbi assistant director and cnn

contributor tom fuentes in our 6:30 a.m. time slot. later on "starting point" we're going to talk to a friend and colleague of the murdered texas prosecutor mike mclelland along with kaufman county judge bruce wood, kaufman mayor william fortner and representative ted poe. new this morning a tragic ending to a rescue mission in the alaska wilderness. a state trooper's helicopter picked up a person stranded on a snowmobile saturday night, and then the chopper went down. the wreckage was found yesterday. authorities say they didn't find any survivors. the pilot, a trooper, and the rescued snowmobiler were all on board that chopper. officials say the helicopter caught fire but it's not clear how. also new this morning it looks like a crime, but now police are starting to think a dramatic kidnapping caught on surveillance camera was staged. the apparent kidnappers are seen racing around a corner. eventually they force a man and woman into a minivan. some witnesses say they saw a gun but the nypd is seeing a lot of red flags in this because no

one in the area has been reported missing. they think it may have happened is that a group of friends staged the whole thing as part of a birthday prank. some prank. >> all right, finally new developments this morning from the korean peninsula. south korea with some tough talk of its own after a series of threats from the north. its president warning that any provocation will result in, quote, a strong response. meantime, the u.s. has sent two stealth fighters to south korea, as the two countries continue joint military exercises. cnn's kyung lah live for us in seoul. north korea declared itself in a state of war. but south korea says it's ready to retaliate against further threats. where does this all put the u.s.? these escalating dengss. >> well, what it means for the united states is that they are bound by treaty to respond if there is some sort of squirmish between the united states and -- between south korea and north korea. the intent here, not being that anyone here wants to. a lot of this is just smoke and dagger talk, it is smoke and mirrors. but the concern is, is that

there will be a miscalculation, and that this region could then trip or stumble into war. that is what is really at stake here. what you have is a president in south korea, the first female president for this country, with something to prove in a male-dominated country. then you have the man-child to the north, with his finger on the nuclear button. the question is, is will both sides then make a mistake with the u.s. trapped in the middle. >> absolutely. when you look at, i guess, the smoke and mirrors, as you say, of what happens on the korean peninsula and try to separate out what -- how likely war is, what are the real new tensions, and what the miscalculations could be, clearly american officials must be concerned. >> very concerned. because, it's so easy to make a mistake. two years ago, there was an attack on an island. it was a conventional attack with some missiles. there was the sinking of a south korean warship. the u.s. recently signed -- if you could look at it as

strengthening of the treaty in this region. two years ago, if that treaty were in place the united states would feel more obligated to come to the defense of south korea's quickly escalating tensions. so that's why all of this is very, very tenuous. that's why all sides are trying to remain as calm as possible. certainly very difficult when you hear all this rhetoric out of the north. >> and americans in south korea, any movement of americans trying to leave south korea? >> you know, i talked to a number of americans since we've been here and we haven't really gotten this reaction that americans are throwing things in their bags trying to catch the next flight out of here. even though north korea is so close, even though the nuclear threat is here, and remember, make no mistake about it, this is the first time that we've seen such a totalitarian regime with nuclear weapons. we aren't seeing a tremendous flight out of south korea by americans yet. >> kyung lah, thank you. eight minutes after the hour. three people killed in a spectacular 95-vehicle crash along the virginia/north carolina border. 25 others taken to the hospital.

the crash was described as a chain of 17 separate wrecks. in one of them the bed of a tractor trailer caught fire after colliding with six cars. it took tow trucks hours to clear off interstate 77. all lanes have now reopened. investigators are saying that fog may have been a contributing factor. they never imagined what they'd have to overcome to get there. the cardinals 85-63 victory over duke marred by a gruesome injury. the sophomore guard kevin ware suffered a broken leg. we're not showing it to you, because you know what, this injury is simply too disturbing to watch. seeing and hearing the break brought players and coaches to tears. and left the crowd in indianapolis eerily silent. a senior member of louisville athletic department spoke to cnn's don lemon last night. >> while kevin was down, one of the players -- called the players over and said, you know, win the game. win the game. it was his message to the team. and they certainly took it to heart, and got the task

accomplished. >> have to imagine that those guys at that level they want to win so bad. he said surgery to repair the bone was successful. he'll remain in the hospital until at least tomorrow. this instagram picture overnight shows ware in his hospital bed with louisville's trophy for winning the ncaa -- there it is on the left. winning the regional tournament. meanwhile, michigan passed florida to earn its trip to atlanta. it's the wolverines' first final four berth in 20 years. the final four match-ups are now set. louisville versus wichita state. syracuse versus michigan. the winners meet a week from tonight in the national championship. kevin ware, that -- i mean what an amazing -- what an amazing finish -- >> i've never seen -- >> for all of his hopes. >> i've never seen an injury like that, an outpouring of emotion like that. i've never seen a team rally like louisville did. the came was essentially tied when he went down there and they came out in the second half after what must have been an

unbelievably emotional speech from rick pitino and took over that game. >> yet his surgery was successful to repair that leg. >> may take up to a year to recover from that. >> sunday was a great day to be a louisville cardinal not to be outdone by the men but the louisville women's team scored a ginormous upset beating baylor to advance to elite eight in the ncaa women's tourney. baylor the defending women's champ have lost just once in the last 75 games. >> this was an epic upset. you're seeing brittany griener who may be the best college basketball player ever. she played for baylor. she didn't score until the second half yesterday. she didn't get a basket until the second half. this was an unbelievable upset. i don't think anyone saw this coming. >> so zoraida, by the way, is number one in our cnn bracket challenge. she, you know, number one. chris cuomo is third. berman is eighth. i have slipped to 15th. my husband said i'm the hare not the tortoise because i was number one for the first week.

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nick valencia live from los angeles. what happened next? >> what happened before that led up to all this. witnesses say he was seen driving erratically in that parking lot. he sideswiped at least two cars before crashing into the storefront there in san jose. witnesses say he was going at least 40 miles per hour before he skidded in that front store entrance, stopped by the beer display. police say afterwards he got out of his car, allegedly picked up a blunt object and began attacking customers. now it was obviously a very scary scene for those inside. >> he almost ran me over, and some guy pick ed -- and he was going inside the car -- i mean inside the front door i mean -- i mean he was in interest to hurt people you know. i know a lot of people got hurt. and i just grabbed my bike and took off across the street, you know. i didn't want -- i just know he was in there to hurt people. >> reporter: that woman was one of at least 70 people inside the store. four people were injured.

one of them seriously. the others with non-life-threatening injuries. one of those injured was a walmart employee. >> oh, wow. so what do we know about the suspect? any indication why this happened? >> people right now are asking the same questions christine. they really don't know. there's not much being released about the suspect other than to say that he's in his 30s. and police so far this morning have not released a motive. >> all right, nick valencia. clearly very, very sad sunday. thanks, nick. it is 17 minutes after the hour. let's bring you up to date. a manhunt under way in texas right now following the murder of kaufman county d.a. mike mclelland and his wife. the couple shot to death in their home. this came two months after the assistant d.a. mark hasse was murdered outside a courthouse. so far officials are not officially linking the two crimes. atlanta educators, including a retired superintendent are expected to start turning themselves in to the county jail

this morning. 35 former principals, teachers and other public school employees indicted on racketeering charges for allegedly changing students' standardized test scores and then covering it up. investigators say top school officials got bonuses based on bogus test results. so just last week you remember karl rove saying he could imagine a republican presidential candidate supporting same-sex marriage? now, a republican lawmaker is taking that sort of a step further. senator jeff lake of arizona is saying he doesn't think there's any avoiding it. >> i think that's inevitable. there will be one, and i think he'll receive republican support, or she will. so i think that yes, the answer is yes. >> and senator flake added that he personally thinks marriage should be between a man and a woman, but the supreme court considering two same-sex marriage cases, of course, right now. we're expecting 338 million dollar powerball winner pedro quezada in court today over

$29,000 in unpaid child support. his son says he hired an attorney and is working through the problem. quezada has five children but no word which of them would be covered by these payments. meantime, a man who describes himself as a close friend told the new york daily news that quezada has promised to pay the rent for everyone who lives on the same block as the bodega he owns. he's got a new face and now a new life. dallas wiens who got the first full-face transplant got married over the weekend. the couple exchanged vows at the same church where he was badly burned in 2008. he met his wife in a burn victim support group. she was burned in a traffic accident three years ago. investors celebrating more than easter over the weekend with the s&p sitting at a record high. before today's opening bell. the question is where do stocks go from here? >> that's a good question. in t. nespresso.

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strong. the s&p 500 finished thursday at an all-time high. the dow hit highs many times throughout the quarter. . the u.s. economy is recovering. but analysts are still worried about debt problems in europe. dow futures are down about 15 points today. china this morning, taking steps to keep its housing market from getting out of control. authorities in shanghai are telling banks to stop giving loans to people who want to buy a third home. in beijing residents will only be able to buy one house. and if you sell your home, you're going to get hit with a huge tax bill, because both cities will enforce a 20% capital gains tax on any income earned in a property sale. this comes a month after china's government said it was worried about the housing market getting too hot there. real estate prices have been rising there for much of the last decade. and opening day at ball parks across the country. in honor of that cnn monday did a survey to see which locations charge the most for beer and a hot dog and we're dreaming of a

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is someone hunting down prosecutors and killing them in texas? the district attorney killed just months after the murder of his deputy. we are live with the latest on this manhunt. a deadly infection leads to a medical mystery this morning. doctors trying to isolate a strain of bird flu that's killing humans for the first time. and a mandatory gun for every home? one community could make this law later today. welcome back to "early start" everyone, i'm john berman. >> i'm christine romans in for zoraida sambolin. a manhunt is on for the killer or killers in the double prurder that has a texas community on edge this morning.

the district attorney and his wife found gunned down at their home in kaufman county, southeast of dallas. mike mclelland and his wife cynthia are the latest victims in what could be a case of a serial assassin targeting public officials. just two months ago assistant district attorney mark hasse was gunned down in broad daylight near the courthouse as he walked to work. as far as we know police have no suspects and no motive for this murder. george howell live in kaufman, texas, for us this morning. george, police haven't publicly linked the cases. but i mean, many speculate that these murders are connected. what can you tell us about the possible connection between the two? >> well, christine, good morning. both of these men worked very closely on similar cases and we're hearing from public officials here, who believe that these men may have been targeted, as it may have been a revenge hit. think back to mclelland when he was talking about the death of hasse, he was adamant. he was determined to find his killer. now i want you to listen to exactly how he said it, how

adamant, how passionate he was about it when he held a news conference just after that murder. >> i hope that the people that did this are watching, because we're very confident that we're going to find you. we're going to pull you out of whatever hole you're in, we're going to bring you back and let the people of kaufman county prosecute you to the fullest extent of the law. >> christine, pull you out of whatever hole you're in. and even in another instance he referred to this person, whoever it might have been, as some. so again he was adamant, determined to find the killer. hasse's death had a big impact on this very tight-knit office. they were determined to move forward and find that killer. >> and of course this morning a white supremacist group getting some attention and focus on the

aryan brotherhood. are they investigating whether this group could be involved? >> well, to be very clear, that connection has not been linked to mclelland's death. him and his wife's death. but we do know that back in december the texas dps, the department of public safety, put out a bulletin saying they had credible information that the aryan brotherhood was actively planning retaliation against law enforcement. these are questions that certainly came up, christine, after hasse's murder. but again, to be very clear, that connection has not been made when it comes to mclelland's death. police are being very tight-lipped about, you know, what they know in this case, but we do know that they are looking at all angles. >> and what about the atmosphere in the town this morning? how is the community reacting? obviously when your law enforcement have been targeted that's unnerving. >> it's a community consumed with fear right now because there are so many unanswered questions. you're not getting a lot of

information from police. they're tight-lipped about what happened. when you think about it, two prosecutors in two months. it's a big deal. certainly people believe that this may have been a targeted -- these may have been targeted killings. but there are just so many unanswered questions. we know at the courthouse today there will be heightened security. the courthouse will reopen today. but, the d.a.'s office, christine, that will remain closed as investigators try to get to the bottom of this thing. >> george howell for us in texas. thank you, george. >> 33 minutes after the hour. south korea this morning, flexing some of its military muscle. warning that any provocation from the north will be met with a strong response. pyongyang has ratcheted up the nuclear rhetoric, even declaring a state of war with the south. new york congressman peter king says he's concerned that with all its threats, north korea's leader may have boxed himself into a corner. >> kim jong-un is trying to establish himself, he's trying to be the tough guy. he's 28, 29 years old, and he's

going further and further out. i don't know if he can get himself back in. my concern would be that he may feel to save face he has to launch some sort of attack on south korea, or some base in the pacific. >> meantime, the u.s. deployed stealth fighter jets to south korea yesterday. defense officials say it's part of an ongoing joint military exercise between the two countries. two men are dead in china, reportedly from a strain of bird flu not previously seen in humans. the men, 27 and 87 years of age, contracted the h7n9 strain. china's official news agency reports a third person. a 35-year-old woman, is in critical condition. chinese health officials say they don't know how the victims became infected. their symptoms included coughing and fever which later developed into pneumonia. we could learn whether prosecutors in colorado will seek the death penalty for james holmes. court documents reveal holmes' lawyers offered a guilty plea in

exchange for avoiding the death penalty but prosecutors rejected that offer. holmes is charged with killing 12 people, wounding 58 others inside the aurora, colorado, theater last year. one worker killed, three others injured at you anuclear plant in russellville, arkansas. the power company says the victims were helping move part of a generator out of a building when it fell. officials say the accident did not take place in a radiation area. there's no danger to the public. the tiny town of nelson, georgia, might order every household in the community to own a gun. a city council vote could make it law. councilman who proposed the measure says nelson only has one police officer and when citizens have a problem it can take a long time for help to arrive. the suburb has a similar law on the books since 1982. according to cardinal timothy dolan the catholic church needs to build a better relationship with the gay and lesbian community. new york's archbishop telling abc's george stephanopoulos it's time for the church to take a more conciliatory approach. >> we got to do better to see

that our defense of marriage is not reduced to an attack on gay people. and i admit we haven't been too good at that. we try our darnedest to make sure, we're not as anti-anybody, we're in the defense of what god is talking -- >> dolan says he's not sure exactly how the church can improve its outreach to the gay community but he says the process begins by listening. a popular television host in egypt known as the egyptian jon stewart is free on bail this morning. he was released yesterday after five hours of questioning. the tv satirist is accused of insulting islam and egypt's president mohamed morsi. he is the most prominent critic to be called in for questioning in what egypt's opposition claims is a campaign of intimidation. a viking, a race car driver and a british boy band. they'll be among the guests at the 135th annual white house easter egg roll later this morning. there were fears last month that it could be canceled because of more spending cuts. but the eggs will start rolling at 10:30 a.m. eastern.

there will be 35,000 people from all 50 states attending. and it will be a star-studded lineup. running back adrian peterson of the minnesota vikings, nascar's danica patrick and the boy band the wanted all scheduled to be on hand. >> you have all of the wanted's albums? >> i am wanting for any of the albums yes. >> when the yankees take the field just a few hours from now on opening day, hopefully prepared to lose to the red sox, they will take the field without their captain for the first time in over a decade. cnn's rachel nichols one-on-one with derek jeter coming up. arrival. with hertz gold plus rewards, you skip the counters, the lines, and the paperwork. zap. it's our fastest and easiest way to get you into your car. it's just another way you'll be traveling at the speed of hertz. your doctor will say get smart about your weight. i tried weight loss plans... but their shakes aren't always made for people with diabetes. that's why there's glucerna hunger smart shakes.

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good morning, again. welcome back to early start. it happens every spring. opening day 2013 will be much different for one major-leaguer. the yankees' short stop derek jeter who is starting on the disabled list for the first time in more than a decade. much of the focus this afternoon will be on the victims of the sandy hook school massacre.

the season opener is dedicated to them. cnn's rachel nichols sat down with the yankee captain to talk baseball, and to talk about the importance of honoring those who lost their lives that day in newtown, connecticut. >> an opening day, the yankees, and major league baseball are going to honor the victims of sandy hook. why do you think that that's particularly important? >> they're unfortunate. i don't have children of my own. i have, you know, a younger sister. i have a nephew. and i can't sit here and tell you how -- how it would feel, but it's unimaginable to think what those families were going through. horrific incident like that. and not knowing, you know, going to the school, not knowing whether or not your kids are safe, it's just something that shook me. >> you called the mother of one of the teachers, the 27-year-old who was protectinger kids was killed in sandy hook. what made you decide to --

>> first of all, i didn't do that for any attention in doing it. you know, i just understood that she was a big yankee fan, the mother was a big yankee fan. i just did it. i thought it was -- just to reach out and say what a hero her daughter was. i think sometimes people use that term kind of loosely. this person is a hero, but you're speaking about a true hero there. >> starts opening day on the d.l. because of your ankle. what's that going to be like? >> it's going to be odd. and it's disappointing for me because, you know, it's my job to be ready for opening day. but it just didn't happen. i just ran out of time to get ready. >> what's different as you're 38 years old from when you're 22 years old? >> well i think the thing is you spend much more time getting ready to play. when you're younger you just show up 30 minutes before. you don't even have to stretch. you go out there and play and move around. now you get up at night you got to stretch before you get out of bed. it's a lot more difficult. you spend much more time at the stadium.

>> and what about out there? what are you better at now than you were at 22, 23 years old? >> answering questions from you. >> well -- >> i lot of people don't realize i've been answering the questions for years. >> i was going to say this you've been doing this since you were 22, 23 years old. >> wie've been working to the fr a long time. >> second act, anything else you want to accomplish? >> i want to win again. i hear from m.j. all the time, he's won six times. he's always bragging he got more. it would be fun to have just as many as all your friends. >> you have played baseball or thought about baseball or been preparing for baseball every day of your life probably as long as you can remember in one way or the other. what's scary about the idea of not being in the game whenever down the road it does happen? >> i'm pretty sure i'll be involved in the game in some fashion. you know, i want to own a team one day. you know, that's my next goal. >> you think the yankees are for sale? you could buy this team? >> too expensive. unless you give me some of your money.

>> would you be like george as an owner? >> in some ways i would. >> the yelling, the firing? what are we talking -- >> i don't know. i still got to hire some people, i'm not going to tell you how bad i'm going to be before i hire somebody. >> derek jeter won't be in the ball park today. he's rehabbing an injured ankle down in tampa, florida. i met his parents recently at an event for his foundation and i asked them how do you -- i have three little boys, how do you raise a derek jeter? and his dad was really interesting to be intentional with your kids. when you're spending time with your kids be there with them as much as you can and be intentional with them. >> he's a very nice guy. unfortunate he plays for such a hateful team. >> during that segment berman tweeted red sox red sox red sox red sox. >> i'm a little jealous of derek jeter. who wouldn't be, right? >> jealous is not the word that we're going to use for you when you talk about derek jeter. but alas. >> 44 minutes after the hour. alone, hurt and hungry. a young woman left stranded on a mountain for six freezing nights shares her story of survival.

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47 minutes after the hour. let's bring you up to speed. the big story kaufman county texas. district attorney mick mclelland and his wife cynthia were found shot to death at their home saturday. this just two months after the prosecutor vowed to find the people responsible for murdering one of his top deputies. steps from the courthouse. security has been offered to other county officials and the hanhunt is under way. it's arraignment day for a california teen who was allegedly drunk when his suv slammed into a fan and killed five members of the same family. the crash helped early saturday morning in southeastern nevada. police say 18-year-old gene soriano's dodge durango slammed into the back of the family van causing it to spin and flip over. they also say they found beer bottles inside his suv.

two other people in the van were taken to the hospital in critical condition. a passenger of soriano's survived. louisville's kevin ware recovering this morning after successful surgery to repair his shattered leg. ware's injury happened during his team's regional victory against duke last night. stopped the game cold. the fracture, i'm telling you, it was so bad, so gruesome we're not going to show it to you. it was the worst thing i've seen in any event. this instagram picture shows ware in his hospital bed with the louisville trophy for winning the ncaa midwest regional. he is expected to remain in the hospital until at least tomorrow at least. meantime louisville is headed to the final four in ware's hometown, atlanta. a school bus aide arrested over this. [ inaudible ] >> wow. police say 37-year-old donetta

macpherson repeatedly bullied a 5-year-old with disabilities. all caught on bus camera. police say she violently screamed at the little boy, reportedly grabbed him, forced him into his seat. she was charged with stalking. we reached out to the school district for comment over the weekend and cnn has not received a response. the wrongful death trial brought on by michael jackson's mother and family against aeg begins tomorrow. the civil lawsuit claims aeg is responsible for jackson's death because it hired and supervised conrad murray. that, of course, the doctor who administered the fatal dose of anesthetic propofol to the pop icon reportedly in an attempt to help him sleep. hillary clinton makes her first paid speaking engagement later this month. april 24th she'll address the national housing council in dallas. she'll also deliver two unpaid speeches this week at women's leadership events in washington and new york. rory mcilroy apologizing for canceling a humanitarian visit

to haiti. the world's number two golfer was supposed to be in haiti this morning in his role as a unicef ambassador. instead, he's decided to play in this week's texas open. he wants to be better prepared for the mastest, which begins april 11th. mcilroy said it was a caddie who convinced him to do it. a 23-year-old oregon woman recovering from severe leg injury and frostbite this morning. she spent six nights strounded on mount hood. hiker mary owen was rescued saturday morning by a national guard helicopter. she credits a stash of snack bars for her survival. >> i found out that nutri-grain bars, wrappers, make really nice kindling, oddly enough. and so i was able to put together a good fire. it didn't last very long. but it was just because i didn't have the range of motion to be able to go and collect enough to keep it going very long. so it was enough to dry me out, and heat up my hands and stuff, which was good because my hands were getting pretty nasty. >> owen was hiking alone last week when she suddenly encountered whiteout conditions

and became disoriented. she found herself stranded after a 40-foot fall badly injured her leg. >> she is lucky. so a wet start for parts of the east coast this morning. the rain is falling. it might affect your travel plans, you'll be happy to hear that. jennifer delgado is live in the weather center. >> happy monday. we'll call these spring showers. i know it's been a rare sight. we are starting off the morning with just rain and for areas including the south oousto east of atlanta into columbia, south carolina, looking at some storms. we're still looking at some lightning out there. for florida you'll continue to see a few showers in the morning but more of that action comes later into the afternoon. now for new england, a lot of rain, a little bit of wintry precipitation across parts of maine, as we look across parts of new york, some showers there. we'll also see some lake-effect snow. but the big story from areas, including northern virginia, here by 8:00 a.m., dense fog advisory in place, and we'll be looking at some of these

locations where visibility could drop down to quarter mile. that includes areas like meryl and even down towards the south. look what's happening towards louisiana, mississippi, nashville. expect some travel delays through the morning. many of those dense fog advisories will expire at 9:00 a.m. as we show you some of the high temperatures for today, they're going to be pretty cold. 10 to 20 degrees below average. today, we'll see a chance for severe storms to pop up right around the texas panhandle. look at these numbers out there. for chicago, today high of 40 degrees. yesterday, almost near 60 degrees. for new york, you're going to be average, that is exciting for you. but as we go to the next couple days, temperatures will be dropping down, 10 to 20 degrees. opening day for red sox and yankees, maybe i did this just for you, john and christine today we will see clouds around, temperature 55. it's going to be cool out there. with an isolated shower. >> i had my afternoon planned all set. it is warm and toasty in front of my television set. jennifer delgado. >> you're welcome. >> trouble on the benny trail. take a look.

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good morning, welcome back. 57 minutes past the hour. taking a look at the top cnn trends online this morning on this april fools' day. google pulling off an elaborate april fools' prank, releasing a video caming youtube has been nothing more than an eight-year contest with the winner finally being chosen and the site shutting down. more than a few youtube users actually bought it. really? google claims youtube will go dark for ten years before

relaunching in 2023. that was supposed to happen last night at midnight. and google didn't stop there, they also offering its users the ability to search by smell. yes, by smell. a video promoting the new google nose beta offered the sharpest olfactory experience available. >> that's funny. also trending this morning, looks like even the easter bunny not above the law. this sad rabbit on his way to a charity event when he was pulled over on a highway near san diego. the reason, he wasn't wearing a helmet in the easter spirit the california highway patrol officer did give the bunny a break, apparently got off with just a warning. the big question, look at the guy. the question is how do you get a helmet that fits on top of that head. >> civil disobedience, i guess, to get to his event without wearing the helmet. >> check out the other top cnn trends head to our blog. >> "early start" continues right now.

terror in texas. the district attorney gunned down just weeks after the murder of his deputy. the killer or killers still out there this morning. tough talk on the korean peninsula. but this time it's the south vowing to strike if the north crosses the line. so check out what looks like a frightening scene on a new york city street. witnesses say they saw an armed abduction. but was this all an elaborate hoax? >> all right a gruesome injury. then, a rousing finish. the louisville cardinals headed to the final four without a fallen warrior. >> what an amazing thing that was. >> good morning. welcome to "early start." i'm christine romans. >> i'm john berman. it is monday, april 1st. it is 6:00 a.m. in the east. we're going to start in texas where an inhence manhunt is under way. at this moment investigators are searching for the killer or killers who are apparently targeting public officials for assassination. the latest victim, kaufman county district attorney mike mclelland.

he and his wife gunned down this weekend in their home, southeast of dallas. now this is the same county where less than two months ago, assistant district attorney mark hasse was shot and killed as he walked to work. this morning, as you might imagine, there is heightened security at the courthouse. that community very much on edge. our george howell is there, live from kaufman, texas, this morning with the developing story. george, authorities right now, are they linking officially these murders? >> john, they're not at this point. but look, it's a mysterious murder case. no new leads in the case. investigators haven't narrowed down any suspects in this mysterious murder. but we are hearing from public officials here in kaufman who say this. they say that the men worked very closely to the on the cases that they prosecuted, similar cases. they believe that this may have been a revenge hit. so that's what we're hearing from public officials here. though police, they are not officially linking these killings, the unanswered questions here in kaufman have

this community consumed with fear. >> we're going to find you. we're going to pull you out of whatever hole you're in, we're going to bring you back and let the people of kaufman county prosecute you to the fullest extent of the law. >> reporter: a promise from kaufman county, texas, district attorney mike mclelland two months ago to the unknown killer of an assistant d.a. in his office. a promise, though, he would never sefulfilled. saturday night police found the bodies of the d.a. and his wife cynthia at their home. >> they both had been shot and we are in the process of completing the crime scene workup right now. >> reporter: an investigator says police found several shell casings inside the home from a high-powered rifle. >> it's pretty obvious it's unnerving, and it's unnerving to the law enforcement community, it's unnerving to the community at large. >> reporter: there are no suspects. and the sheriff's office has not

officially said whether the mclellands' deaths are connected to the killing of kaufman county assistant d.a. who was shot outside the county courthouse in january. the sheriff says extra precautions are being taken to protect county elected officials, as well as the public. >> there will be complete security at the courthouse tomorrow. visible security. >> reporter: mclelland said his coworkers were like a family, but they all knew their job came with risks. >> when you deal with bad people on a regular basis, you know that there's always the potential for these bad people to do something bad to you, because they've already done something bad to somebody else. and so they could always concentrate and backlash on you. >> reporter: so when you talk about the d.a.'s office here in kaufman county here in texas, it's a very close-knit office. and hasse's death, it had a big impact on that office. mclelland was determined to find hasse's killer. and now it's still unclear who

will take over the d.a.'s position. mclelland and his wife, they leave behind two daughters and three sons. one of those sons is a dallas police officer. john? >> george, we've been talking, it's so chilling to hear mclelland speaking in his own words just two months ago about these violent killings going on right now. what's in store today in terms of security in this area? >> well, you even heard it in the report there, that there will be heightened security at the courthouse. the courthouse will reopen today, but the d.a.'s office, it will remain closed. as investigators try to get to the bottom of this thing, john. >> george howell live this morning in kaufman, texas. we still have so many questions about this case, including really the big one, is there still a serial assassin on the loose this morning targeting texas public officials. in 25 minutes we're going to talk to former fbi assistant director and cnn contributor tom fuentes. >> now this morning a tragic ending to a rescue mission in the alaska wilderness. a state trooper's helicopter picked up a person stranded on a

snowmobile saturday night. when the chopper then went down. the wreckage was found yesterday. authorities say they did not find any survivors. the pilot, a trooper, and the rescued snowmobiler were all on board that chopper. officials say the helicopter caught fire but they're not sure why. >> also new this morning, it looks like a crime. but new york police are starting to think a dramatic kidnapping caught on surveillance camera may have been staged. the apparent kidnappers are seen racing around a corner. eventually they force a man and woman into a minivan. witnesses say they saw a gun but the nypd say they're seeing a lot of red flags here. no one in the area has been reported missing as of now. they think what happens is maybe a group of friends staged the whole thing as part of a birthday prank. the u.s. sending stealth bombers to south korea as tensions with the north escalate. now, south korea's issued its own strong response to pyongyang's nuclear rhetoric. cnn's kyung lah is following developments live in seoul.

good morning. >> good morning, christine. we're seeing all these war games playing out both from the north and the south. but what we are also seeing are some whispers from the north. we spent the day with people with their ear to the ground, with people inside the hermit kingdom. a war of words and the imagery of conflict, consider this. return fire. kim song min, north korean defector, broadcasting a message of democracy to north korea. hoping they're listening to radios like these that south korean activists have smuggled into the communist country. he talks to his north korean sources every day. the average north korean, you think, wants a war? "yes, think do," he says, "they think they will win a war and escape their difficult lives through war." kim points out that north koreans don't get any

information other than state-controlled media. but the men in the military, says kim, tell him they know the regime will lose the fight. the international community, especially the united states, thinks kim jong-un as a mad man. is he a madman? "he's so young, he's naive" says kim. "he thinks nuclear weapons will bring the u.s. to the bargaining table." that's similar to what these defectors are hearing from their north korean sources. we can't show you the faces of these men because they fear the regime. they work at the daily nk, a u.s. endowment funded online news site. >> the sources that we're hearing from are exhausted. they're exhausted by the drills that are happening right now. they're exhausted by the mobilization of the masses. >> reporter: gregory pence is a chicago native. a full bright scholar who decided to work here. >> i think what you're seeing is kim jong-un to try to rally the masses to rally around the flag and adhere to his leadership.

>> reporter: is kim jong-un talking to americans or is he talking to north koreans? >> he's talking to north koreans. >> reporter: the risk of miscalculation is there. is that something you worry about? >> i worry about how fear -- and decision making. >> reporter: and that's a concern from the pentagon, that a miscalculation could mean that they trip in to war. but something we should point out, north korea today called the united states, quote, a boiled pumpkin. the fact that north korea is now reverting back to this milder, more juvenile, chat from the north, well, that may actually be a good sign that they are toning it down. >> a boiled pumpkin on this monday morning. all right, very serious situation, even with the strange language notwithstanding. kyung lah, thank you. >> it is serious. i have to say a boiled pumpkin, i have not heard that in terms of nuclear saber rattling. >> i haven't either. three people this morning i want

to show you this, killed at a spectacular 95-vehicle crash alone the virginia/north carolina border. 25 other people taken to hospitals. this crash described as a chain of 17 separate wrecks. in one of the wrecks, the bed of a tractor trailer caught fire after colliding with six cars. it took tow truck drivers hours to clear off interstate 77. all lanes now have reopened. investigators say fog was a contributing factor. two men are dead in china reportedly from the strain of bird flu not previously seen in humans. the men, 27 and 87 years of age, contracted the h7n9 strain. china's official news agency also reports a third person, a 35-year-old woman, is in critical condition. chinese officials say they don't know how the victims became infected. their symptoms included coughing and fever which later developed into pneumonia. >> life or death for accused aurora movie theater shooter james holmes. at a krood dough hearing in just a few hours prosecutors may

reveal whether they plan to seek the death penalty. that could be delayed by talks of a plea deal. according to court documents holmes offered to plead guilty in exchange for avoiding the death penalty. but promise kutders last week rejected that offer. holmes is charged with killing 12 people, wounding 58 others, inside the aurora colorado theater last year. >> nine minutes after the hour. move on to the game and really the moment that everyone is talking about this morning. louisville did make it to the final four. but they paid a heavy, heavy price to get there. the cardinals 85-63 victory over duke overshadowed by a gruesome injury. the sophomore guard kevin ware, who suffered a broken leg. we are not going to show this to you because it really is too tough to watch. seeing and hearing the break brought players and coaches to tears. rick pitino just crying on the floor right there. they left the crowd in indianapolis eerily silent. there's rick pitino right there. the coach says ware's courage inspired the team.

>> i don't think any of us, with what we had to witness, could have overcome it if it wasn't for kevin ware 12 times saying to the guys, i'll be fine, win the game. >> he spoke to them, you know, on the floor, right after the injury. surgery to repair the broken leg was successful. ware will remain in the hostal until at least tomorrow. he actually put out an instagram photo last night it shows him in the hospital bed with louisville's trophy for winning the midwest regional. final four is set. michigan cruised past florida 79-59 to earn its trip to atlanta. this is the wolverines first final four berth in 20 years since the fab five. also in the final four, match-up, louisville versus wichita state, and syracuse versus michigan next saturday. the winners will meet a week from tonight for the national championship. you know, it was a huge night for louisville. not just the men's team. the women's team also with an epic upset beating top seeded

baylor 82-81 to advance to the elite eight in the ncaa women's tournament. baylor was the defending women's champ. they lad lost just once in the last 75 games. what's more, baylor really has one of the best women's players ever. i'm talking in the history of the game. she is phenomenal. brittany griener. she didn't get a basket until the second half. louisville really completely shut her down. this was a huge upset. it really shocked almost everybody. >> so kevin ware, i mean, he's a sophomore? >> yes. >> so what does this mean for him? a year it's going to take to fix his leg? >> i think right now what he's thinking about is getting healthy. walking again, and then i think he'll worry about playing after that. you see an injury like this. you saw it with joe theseman when he played football years ago when lawrence taylor broke his leg. the issue was getting healthy. but he's a college player. so it affects, you know, not -- i mean this is his entire future just lost right there. a lot of people are saying this is a question about how we treat

college athletes. remember they don't get paid. >> it's still pretty rare to have an injury like that. i mean it's very rare to have an injury like that playing basketball. >> you say rare, i've never seen an injury like that. the joe theismann injury is the closest thing i can remember. >> i'm sure guys don't take the court and think that's going to happen. >> brave, brave kid to talk to his team and really inspire his team before he left to go to the hospital. >> all right. terror in the aisles of a california walmart. a man crashed a car straight into the store. that was just the beginning of his rampage. we're going to have a live report straight ahead. it's not what you think. it's a phoenix with 4 wheels. it's a hawk with night vision goggles.

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will comback to "early start." a tir fieing easter for walmart shoppers in california. police are trying to determine why the man behind this oldsmobile drove it straight into that pharmacy. that part of the walmart store. people inside the walmart dazed and frightened. >> all of a sudden i see all kinds of people running and screaming towards the bang of the walmart. what's going on? >> so the crash is just the beginning. nick valencia, live from los angeles. what can you tell us about what happened, nick? >> yeah, just a scary scene

there in san jose, christine. witnesses say that he was seen driving erratically in the parking lot and side swiped at least two cars before plowing right into that front entrance of the walmart. witnesses say he could have been going as fast as 40 miles per hour. now police say he then got out of the car, picked up a blunt object, and began attacking customers. obviously a very scary scene for those people inside. >> he almost ran me over. and some guy picked my bike up, hit the back of his car, so and he was going inside the car i mean inside the front door i mean he was going i mean he was in there to hurt people you know and i know there was a lot of people i know a lot of people got hurt and then i just grabbed my bike and i took off across the street you know. i didn't want to i just know he was he was in there to hurt people. >> the car skidded into the front entrance, being stopped only by the beer display. at least four people was hurt. one of them with serious injuries including a walmart

employee. there was only about 70 people inside, thankfully no more people were hurt. >> the car stopped by the beer display. how did they stop the driver then? >> this is very interesting. s customers inside were so infuriated at the action of this driver, that they subdued him. they tied him up, until police arrived so it was the customers inside the store that descended upon this suspect, stopping him before he can cause any more damage. >> do we know anything more about the suspect at this time? why this happened? >> we don't. police are releasing very little information this morning. all we know at this point is that he's someone in his 30s. we have no motive behind the attack. christine? >> all right, nick valencia for us in california. >> 17 minutes after the hour. a manhunt under way in texas this morning, just two days after kaufman county district attorney mike mclelland and his wife found shot to death in their home. these killings come exactly two months after mclelland's colleague was murdered outside

the courthouse there. authorities right now hesitant to declare a connection between the two cases, but as you can imagine, that is a community on edge this morning. in atlanta, educators, including a retired superintendent are expected to start turning themselves in to the county jail this morning. 35 former principals, teachers and other public school employees indicted on racketeering charges for allegedly changing students' standardized test scores and then covering it up. investigators say top school officials got bonuses based on the bogus test results. >> remember last week, karl rove said he could imagine a republican presidential candidate supporting same-sex marriage. now, a republican lawmaker is sort of taking that a step further. senator jeff flake from arizona says he doesn't think there's any avoiding it. >> i think that's inevitable. there will be one, and i think he'll receive republican support, or she will, so i think that that yes, the answer is yes. >> and where are you --

>> he personally thinks marriage should be between a man and a woman, or the supreme court considering two same-sex marriage cases right now. you've got a new face and now he's got a new wife. dallas wiens. the man from texas to got the nation's first full-face transplant was married over the weekend. the happy couple exchanging vows in the same church where he was badly burned in 2008. he was painting the church when he touched a power line. he met his wife in a burn victim support group. she was burned in a traffic accident three years ago. we wish them the best. investors celebrating more than easter over the weekend. s&p is sitting at a record high before today's opening bell. the question now is, where will stocks go from here? the answer -- >> all right. >> next. [ female announcer ] a classic macaroni & cheese from stouffer's

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this morning. it is the start officially of a new quarter on wall street. however, man those last three months are going to be tough to beat. >> awesome. it was an awesome quarter on wall street. the dow jumped 11%. that's the strongest first quarter in 15 years. but now what? that's what's important. that's history. we want to know what's going to happen next. money managers surveyed by cnn money say this is as good as it's going to get. they expect stocks to finish this year only a little bit higher than where they are right now. because that first quarter was simply so strong. the s&p 500 finished thursday at an all-time high which closed friday, of course. now on the plus side, stocks are well priced. and the u.s. economy is recovering. but analysts still worried about debt problems in europe, and they're still worried about jobs market that's moving forward, but not as quickly as you like. dow futures are down about 17 points right now. china taking steps to keep its housing market from getting out of control. this is the big story in markets overnight. authorities in shanghai are telling banks to stop giving loans to people who want to buy a third home.

in beijing residents will only be allowed to buy one home. and if you sell your house, you're going to get hit with a big tax bill. there's a lot of speculation going on right now in real estate there. both of the cities are going to enforce a 20% capital gains tax on any income earned in a property sale. china's government recently said it's worried about the housing market getting too hot. real estate prices have been rising there for much of 9 last decade. it is a very, very hot topic in china right now. here in this country the job market is recovering but only a few cities have fully bounced back from the recession. "the wall street journal" says 14 of the nation's 100 biggest cities have more jobs now than before the recession. 14 out of 100. topping the list. texas, six cities show a full recovery in texas. the report credits strong employment in oil and gas, of course. nationwide there are still 3 million fewer jobs than when the recession started in 2007. >> that's still amazing. what's the one thing we need to know about our money today?

>> one thing gas prices down for the 12th day in a row. that's the thing you feel every single day. gallon of regular goes for $3.63. too soon to say whether prices have peaked for the spring. but aaa saying prices this year will likely be lower than last year when gas peaked at $3.94. i would say gas prices are the economic indicator people feel first, right? every week you're filling up your gas tank or every ten days or something. >> i love it when we celebrate when gas prices are going down. >> they seem to go down slower than they go up, don't they? >> never seem to notice. >> 25 minutes after the hour. a district attorney who vowed to hunt down his colleague's killer, he is now himself become the victim of murder. were both men targeted by the same gunman? those are the questions everyone asking this morning. we're going to have a live report coming up next. ♪ ♪ [ female announcer ] nothing gets you going quite like the power of quaker oats. today is going to be epic.

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is someone hunting down prosecutors and killing them in texas? a district attorney slain just months after the murder of his deputy. the price of victory, louisville's kevin ware waking up in the hospital this morning after doctors operated on a really gruesome leg fracture. his team, though, moving on to the final four. mandatory gun for every home? one community could make that a law later today. welcome back to "early start" everyone, i'm john berman. >> i'm christine romans in for

zoraida today. monday, april 1st, 29 minutes past the hour. a double murder on a suburban -- in suburban community as police on on a manhunt this morning, an entire neighborhood on edge. the district attorney and his wife found gunned down at their home in kaufman county, about 30 miles southeast of dallas. mike mclelland and his wife cynthia are the latest victims in what could be a case of a serial assassin targeting public officials just two months ago assistant district attorney mark hasse was gunned down in the middle of the day near a courthouse as he walked to work. so far police have no suspects, no motive for these murders. george howell is live in kaufman, texas, for us this morning. police haven't publicly linked these two cases. but obviously there's speculation they're connected. these two men worked together. >> christine, good morning. that is the case. they worked together very closely. prosecuting similar cases. and we're hearing from public officials here, in this county, who say they believe that these men may have been targeted in a revenge hit.

but again police are not saying that they are not linking the killings. but when you listen back to what mclelland said, he was very passionate, about finding the person who killed hasse. this is a person who he said was a prosecutor who took pride in putting the bad guys behind bars. and he was very adamant about finding the killers. chilling to listen to exactly how he said it just after hasse's murder. take a listen. >> i hope that the people that did this are watching. because we're very confident that we're going to find you. we're going to pull you out of whatever hole you're in, and we're going to bring you back and let the people of kaufman county prosecute you to the fullest extent of the law. >> so when you listen to the way he said it, you know, pull you out of whatever hole you're in, even in another instance describing the person, the

gunman as some, this prosecutor didn't pull any punches christine when taking his case to the public to find hasse's killer. >> what can you tell us about questions this morning about the white supremacist group the aryan brotherhood and any potential involvement there? >> well, to be very clear, that has been no connection, no link at this point connecting it to mclelland's death. but i do want to go back to december. we know that the texas dps, the department of public safety put out a bulletin stating that they thad credible information that the aryan brotherhood was actively planning retaliation against law enforcement. we also know that these prosecutors in kaufman county handled some prosecutions of the aryan brotherhood along with other counties along with other d.a.s here in the state. so, that question did come up after hasse's murder. but again, to be very clear, there's been no connection at this point with the murder of the mclellands, christine.

>> george howell in texas. thanks. we want to bring in tom fuentes, a former fbi assistant director, now a cnn contributor. wayment to start right off the bat with the question you heard george talking about right there. the issue of the aryan brotherhood. there have been these reports that perhaps they may be tied up, they were cited for possibly wanting to be involved with revenge killings as recently as december. explain to me who this group really is and what they're capable of. >> well, the group is not a direct affiliate with the ar yan brotherhood nationwide. but they're a splinter group and basically affiliated by philosophy. these white supremacist groups basically hate the government, they hate the fact that the government basically they look at it as being too supportive of minority groups, and they hate that. they think that white people should be in charge and only white people and that anybody who is not white should not be in the u.s.

not be allowed to have any type of rights other than maybe being a slave. that's how they think. and the groups like this have been in existence for a long time. the fbi has fought these groups for decades going back to the kkk. going back to the order. other aryan brotherhood type groups that have existed in many different factions for a long time. >> so, tom, if there was this what we're told is credible information at december that this splinter group from the aryan brotherhood was planning some kind of revenge attacks on law officials, two questions here, do you think enough was done to protect officials in this area? and number two, i mean it's been two months since the first murder right now. you know, why don't you think there's been any progress in making any arrests? >> well, you can't say there hasn't been progress. we don't know completely what going on behind the scenes. but, the issue here is that a number of counties and jurisdictions were involved in a major task force to address the

aryan brotherhood of texas, and indictments were returned back in 2012. in november and december. charging a number of people. so, in the first murder of assistant district attorney hasse, why was he singled out? you have all these county prosecutors, all of the law enforcement, the police, department of public safety from texas, that have been working together on these -- addressing these groups for a long time. why was he singled out first? in the second case, the district attorney mclelland, as we just heard in the tape, he challenged them and basically, you know, they fought back. so if -- or whoever, whoever was the killer in this case, and it may not be the aryan brotherhood of texas. that's the other issue. it's an obvious pick that they may have been involved but investigators can't just rely on that. and when you don't have a particular group or person claiming credit it's going to make it very difficult for them to find out through sources,

through investigation, in a number of states, including especially texas, to link them to it. so that's the problem now. it's going to be a very, very difficult investigation if no one comes forward. and you could have people coming forward, talking to each other, bragging about it, within their community, and somebody leaks that out to law enforcement, that a particular individual is bragging about having committed these murders. >> hey, tom, as you point out, there's been a lot of talk about this being the aryan brotherhood somehow involved here. but if it's not the aryan brotherhood, in your experience, where else do you think they shutting casting their eye right now? >> well, the problem is that if you're a prosecutor, like mr. hasse or mr. mclelland, you're not making a lot of friends every day when you're having people, you know, have their liberty taken away from them. when you're prosecuting individuals they just sent to prison, they may not believe that they should have gone to prison or that the criminal justice system was fair to them. and that the prosecutor

shouldn't have done it, shouldn't have prosecuted them. they make a lot of enemies every day of the week as part of the job. so do police officers and federal agents, judges, you name it. so anybody involved in the criminal justice system all the way up, as we saw in colorado, with the director of corrections, tom clements, people are out there that you deal with that hate you, and if they get an opportunity, may take your life. >> which is why there is a lot of fear, a lot of concern in kaufman county, texas, right now. tom fuentes, former fbi assistant director. thanks so much for joining us. new developments from south korea. the country's president warning the north that provocative action will be met with a, quote, strong response. it comes as the u.s. deployed stealth fighter jets in the region as part of joint military exercises. new york congressman peter king says he's concerned that with all of these threats, the north korean leader may be forced into doing something rash. >> kim jong-un is trying to establish himself, he's trying to be the tough guy.

he's 28, 29 years old, and he's going further and further out. i don't know if he can get himself back in. my concern would be that he may feel to save face he has to launch some sort of attack on south korea, or some base in the pacific. >> north korea ratcheted up the rhetoric again this weekend declaring it was in a state of warthe south. one worker was killed, three others injured at a nuclear plant in russellville, arkansas, about an hour away from little rock. enter ji, which is the power company, says the victims were helping move part of a generator out of a building when it fell. power officials say the accident did not happen in a radiation area and that there is just no stager to public right now. the tiny town of nelson, georgia, might soon compel every household in the community to own a gun. a city council vote tonight would make it a law. the councilman who proposed the measure says look, nelson only has one police officer and when citizens have a problem it can take a long time for help to arrive. an atlanta suburb has had a

similar law since 1982. a viking, a race car driver and a british boy band will be among the guests at the 135th annual white house easter egg roll later this morning. there were fears last month that the event would be canceled because of forced spending cuts. romans whispered that so i did, too. so the eggs will be rolling at 10:30 a.m. eastern time. there will be 35,000 people from all 50 states attending. it will be a star-studded lineup. running back adrian peterson of the minnesota vikings, nascar's danica patrick and the boy band the wanted, the wanted will be there all scheduled to attend. >> it's unclear if they'll be making statements on forced spending cuts. >> the wanted has very firm positions on the sequester. they'll be speaking at length no doubt. 39 minutes after the hour. alone, hurt and hungry. a young woman stranded on a mountain for six, six freezing nights, she shares her story of survival. that's coming up. [ male announcer ] how can power consumption in china,

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all right. brooke baldwin joins us with what's ahead on "starting point." >> ahead this morning, something i know you talked about a bunch this morning, this manhunt under way after a texas county district attorney and his wife were found dead in their home. one of the questions we're asking, is this at all connected to the murder of that assistant district attorney from a little more than two months ago. we'll go there. we're going to talk with a county judge bruce wood, the kaufman mayor william fortner and texas congressman ted poe who himself was a former judge, former prosecutor who was

threatened. we're going to talk to him. plus cringe worthy. an excruciating moment during the louisville/duke game last night that i know a lot of you are talking about this morning and tweeting about here. this will go down in sports history. >> it was awful. >> awful doesn't even cover it. cardinals forward kevin ware's leg snapped in half in front of millions of viewers and fans and players. how is he doing? i've seen a picture at least on instagram sitting in his hospital bed holding that trophy. we'll look at that. also this. >> anybody who knows me, knows my character, knows -- >> she is the star of bravo's new show called "married to medicine" quad webb luncpford to share the drama. this show just premiered. it raked in something like 1.9 million viewers the first sunday night. so she has some new sayings. we'll have her teach hem to you berm berman. >> oh, i can't wait. >> thanks, guys.

>> well now the bad news. a wet start for parts of the east coast this morning. a cold day to be had in the sand for opening day. jennifer delgado in the cnn weather center. >> good morning. spring showers out there. but the good news overall for the northeast, some of those big gains we're not expecting anything significant rainfallwise. down towards the south, showers to start off your morning through central park to georgia as well as into south carolina and north carolina. but no severe storms out there and some scattered showers still working off the western coastline of florida. but up towards the northeast, as well as new england, fairly quiet there. you can see mixed precipitation affecting areas like portland, maine. mainly just some rain. western parts of new york, some scattered showers out there. we're also going to be looking at a little bit of lake-effect snow. we do have a lake effect watch in place. but for this morning, if you're going to be heading out today, make sure you grab an umbrella, of course if you're in the south as well as the northeast talking about a 20% chance of rainfall.

but you also really need to get that coat because jet stream is back in action again bringing temperatures that are well below average for this time of the year. we're talking 10 to 20 degrees below where they should be. and we have that nice warm-up over the weekend. but say good-bye to that. look at those temperatures, 40 for monday, tuesday and wednesday we should be in the 50s and then for kansas city, temperatures running to 15 degrees below average. it's going to feel more like playoff weather, tigers as well as twins kicking off today at 4:10 and they don't kick off because they have first pitch. i do know this despite the fact it may sound like i'm not a sports fan. royals at white sox 30 degrees with first pitch at 4:10. those temperatures 10 to 15 degrees below average. yesterday in chicago you had temps almost near 60 degrees. phillies and braves, much better, 67 degrees. >> for a nonsports fan this is a confusing time of the year. you have march madness and you have opening of baseball and

it's still 30 degrees outside. >> i talk degrees. >> we don't want to confuse you with this. >> i just got my morning debrief from berman. >> they play basketball inside, baseball outside. it is very cold in some of the places they're playing baseball including chicago, minneapolis, denver, temperatures really, really low there. not fun at all. but here in new york where the red sox will be playing the yankees it will be fine. an incredible story of survival. a 23-year-old oregon woman recovering from a severe leg injury and frostbite after spending six nights stranded on mount hood. hiker mary owen was rescued saturday morning by a national guard and credits a stash of snack bars for her survival. >> i found out that nutri-grain bars, wrappers, make really nice kindling, oddly enough. and so i was able to put together a good fire. it didn't last very long. but it was just because i didn't have the range of motion to be able to go and collect enough to keep it going very long. so it was enough to dry me out, and heat up my hands and stuff, which was good because my hands were getting pretty nasty.

>> owen was hiking alone last week when she suddenly had to deal with whiteout conditions. and became disoriented. she got stranded after falling 40 feet and badly injuring her leg. courage in the face of a horrifying injury. the louisville basketball star who inspired his team to go on and win without him. the latest on kevin ware's condition as his team heads to the final four. depend silhouett. oh, it's cheryl burke! who's this guy? security. cheryl, hi! i know you don't need one but would you try on the depend silhouette for charity? right now? under this? why not? for charity? now's the perfect time, cause with soft fabric and waistband, the best protection looks, fits and feels just like underwear. even doing the chacha. whaaat? ok, america. cheryl burke tried the depend silhouette. get a free sample so you can too. the people of bp made a commitment to the gulf., and every day since, we've worked hard to keep it.

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college basketball's final four now set after yesterday's games but man the louisville cardinals will be without a player after a gruesome leg

injury. jared greenberg is here with that with today's bleacher report. >> hey, john, it was just a horrific scene. one that will live in the forefront of people's minds for as long as we know. won't show you the actual injury to louisville sophomore kevin ware, however, the aftermath was simply surreal. raw emotion rare between the lines as players, coaches and fans couldn't believe the graphic nature of ware's injury. a broken leg forcing the pause button to be hit on one of the most anticipated games of the season. everyone in attendance was visibly shaken with their teammate headed to the hospital, louisville regrouped. what was once a one-point lead when ware went down was briefly lost to duke. then the cardinals went on a run. turning a tight game into a one-sided affair, sending louisville to the final four in atlanta. mission accomplished. with more meaning than ever. afterwards coach rick pitino said ware told his teammates to, quote, win the game. >> if we let up for a second, then kevin ware doesn't mean how

much he means to us. i said we're going to dig in, we're going to play this game to the end. we're going to get him back home, nurse him to good health and we're going to get him to atlanta. >> where he attended high school. here's a picture tweeted of ware from his hospital bed. holding the midwest regional trophy. surgery to repair the broken bone in ware's leg was successful. he'll remain in the hospital until at least tomorrow. 20 years after their last trip to the final four michigan is two wins away from the national title. they were on fire, a wire-to-wire no doubt about it victory over florida. michigan advances to take on syracuse. the wolverines and orange, a classic offense versus defense match-up and we'll see how the emotion carries over for louisville when they take on this year's cinderella, wichita state. the national accepty finals saturday from atlanta with the national champion to be crowned monday night. the victims of the tragic shooting at sandy hook elementary were remembered as the 2013 baseball season got under way last night. after 50 years playing at the

national league houston played its first-ever game of the american league. with a team payroll less than what alex rodriguez will make this season, and he is not likely to play for awhile because of injury, the astros powered to an opening night win. first full day of baseball today. the latest chapter in the most intense rivalry in the game will be written as boston travels to new york to take on the yankees. the defending champion giants start in l.a. against the dodgers. and a time honored tradition continues as the reds open at home, they'll face the angels. check out bleacherreport.com, major league baseball power rankings. something new for the baseball season this year for the first time virtually every day we'll have at least one interleague game, not making traditionalists very happy. >> that is kind of tough to take, jared. i'm looking at the reds/angels opening day. really? >> it's not the cubs coming to down. >> thank you so much. go red sox. >> all right it's april fools' day and there are some elaborate pranks online already.

google releasing a video claiming youtube has been nothing more than an eight-year contest. they finally have chosen a winner and the site now shut down for ten more years. nor than a few youtube users actually fell for that one. >> google is also offering google nose today. the ability to search the web by smell from lemons to wet dogs. i love that one. also twitter is getting into the april fools' spirit, too, with the only site twtr, no vowels there. the company writes starting today we are shifting to a two-tier service. everyone can use our basic service but you only get consonants. for $5 a month you can use our premium twitter service which also includes vowels. >> "early start" back right after this break. zap technology.

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that's it for "early start." i'm christine romans. "starting point" begins right now. good morning, everyone, i'm john berman. >> and i'm brooke baldwin. our "starting point" this morning, premedicated, well orchestrated and anything but random. that is what investigators are saying about the cold-blooded murder of a texas district attorney and his wife. those shootings happened nearly two months after a prosecutor was also murdered in kaufman county. we're live there in texas with the very latest. >> and then new details this morning about the mysterious abduction of two people off a new york city street. this happened in broad daylight. but this morning, police think they know what's behind this. >> and some new detailshi